[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 88 (Wednesday, May 7, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 24925-24926]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-12021]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[OPPTS-400112; FRL-5717-9]
Ethylene Glycol; Risk Assessment Peer Review
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: EPA is giving notice of its ongoing peer review process for
evaluating its risk assessment for ethylene glycol, and announcing that
it will include in this process an external peer review. The external
peer review will be an open process that will include stakeholders and
other interested parties. EPA is also soliciting relevant information
that will aid this peer review process.
DATES: Information should be submitted by [Insert date 60 days from
date of publication in the Federal Register].
ADDRESSES: Submitted information should be provided in triplicate to:
OPPT Docket Clerk, TSCA Document Receipt Office (7407), Office of
Pollution Prevention and Toxics, Environmental Protection Agency, 401 M
St., SW., Rm. G-099, Washington, DC 20460, Attention: Docket Control
Number OPPTS-400112.
Information claimed as confidential must be clearly marked as
confidential business information (CBI). If CBI is claimed, three
additional sanitized copies must also be submitted. Nonconfidential
versions of information on this notice will be placed in the public
record and will be available for public inspection. The public record
is available for inspection from noon to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday,
excluding legal holidays. The public record is located in the TSCA
Nonconfidential Information Center, Rm. NE-B607, 401 M St., SW.,
Washington, DC.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Vanessa Vu, Director, Risk Assessment
Division (7403), Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics,
Environmental Protection Agency, 401 M St., SW., Washington, DC 20460,
Telephone: 202-260-3442.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Elsewhere in today's Federal Register, EPA
is announcing the results of its review of ethylene glycol for purposes
of its continued listing as a toxic chemical under section 313 of the
Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA), 42 U.S.C
11023. While EPA believes the risk assessment in the EPCRA notice is
sufficient for use in the listing evaluation discussed in that notice,
it may not be adequate for other purposes such as standard setting. For
purposes of making listing decisions under section 313, EPCRA does not
require EPA to perform formal risk assessments. Therefore, when EPA
considers exposure, a screening-level risk assessment such as that in
the EPCRA notice is sufficient. Whether such a risk assessment is
adequate for other purposes must be determined on a case-by-case basis
pursuant to the applicable statutory or regulatory authority.
Persons interested in ethylene glycol should be aware that EPA is
continuing the refinement of its ethylene glycol risk assessment. In
response to EPA's Risk Characterization Policy (Carol M. Browner, EPA
Administrator, EPA Risk Characterization Program, March 21, 1995) the
Agency's Science Policy Council (SPC), a group of senior risk managers
and risk assessors, is sponsoring a series of colloquia to provide
internal peer review of several EPA risk assessments as case studies,
including the one for ethylene glycol. These colloquia bring together
risk assessors and risk managers to discuss the quality of the
assessments, and to suggest ways to improve the presentation of the
characterization of risk. The risk assessments chosen for this process
are in the last stages of the internal EPA review.
After the internal peer review process is complete, the SPC plans
to have a number of these case studies externally peer-reviewed.
Although the SPC has not yet finalized the procedures for the external
peer review process, it is clear that the review will be an open
process that will include stakeholders and other interested parties. As
part of this process, EPA's Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic
Substances (OPPTS) will submit the assessment for ethylene glycol for
external peer review.
EPA will issue another Federal Register notice that provides
specific details about the external peer review process for the
ethylene glycol risk assessment. As a general matter, the scientific
peer review will address the strength of the hazard and risk
conclusions and the reasonableness of policy decisions and assumptions
used in the risk assessment process.
EPA is encouraging anyone with information relevant to the above
issues (or other aspects of the ethylene glycol risk assessment) to
submit that information to the address listed under the ADDRESSES unit
by (Insert date 60 days from date of publication in the Federal
Register). Having the information in advance will assist in the
preparations for an efficient and effective external peer review.
[[Page 24926]]
List of Subjects
Environmental protection.
Dated: May 5, 1997.
Lynn R. Goldman,
Assistant Administrator for Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic
Substances.
[FR Doc. 97-12021 Filed 5-6-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-F
